Healthy Donuts! - Ironic or real?
Well it all began when I took a 3 hour Puffs and Doughnut class with Deepa. While I have been making both before I wanted to see if I could get them to look more professional than the ones I do at home. Once I finished the class I began thinking of a healthier alternative. After all so much butter and maida is not great for the bums! I decided to make the doughnuts using atta instead of maida. So here is what the end result was.

Healthy Doughnuts made from Atta

So if that looks good enough to eat I'll give you the recipe and the story behind the single blue glazed doughnut.

For the Dough

First I warmed the 100 ml water in a cup in the microwave for 30 seconds and added the dry yeast to it. I also added the 4 spoons of sugar to this and mixed well for about a minute till the sugar began to dissolve. Then I put the cup back in the microwave and shut the door (you can put it in any warm place to activate the yeast). It takes about 5-7 minutes for the yeast to begin bubbling.

Second I sieved the atta I was going to use. Since it was fresh I just did it once, but if you feel its not light enough you can repeat this a couple of times. Then I mixed the atta, milk powder and butter till it was bread crumb consistency. This was left aside for about five minutes. (In the original recipe she used 1/2 teaspoon bread improver and needed to rest the mixture for 15-20 mins)

Third I added one egg, the yeast and water mix, and the vanilla essence to the atta mixture. Then I began to knead the very sticky dough. It took about 4-5 minutes to get the whole thing to hold together. Then I placed the dough back inside the microwave while I prepared the ingredients for the topping. (In the original recipe she coated the dough with oil and left it to rise for 20-30 minutes in a warm place)

Lastly I used my trusty old doughnut cutter to cut out the shapes from the rolled out dough. The thickness was about 1/4 inch so as to get a decent sized doughnut in the end. These were fried in oil and set to cool for a while as I mixed up the glaze topping.

For the Topping

Mix up the icing sugar, lemon juice and water together till the sugar melts. Its sort of like beating coffee and takes about 3 minutes. The end result should be a rather thick smooth white coloured paste.The paste can be spooned up with ease.

I used the same bowl to stick in the warm doughnuts to glaze one side. While the glaze was yet to set I quickly sprinkled the sugar strands on it to embed them. Then I left them all to set in the box I was going to store them.

The Story of the Solitary Blue Atta Donut

Since I had not used any colour in the rest I wanted to see what one glazed with blue would look like. So I added a few drops of food colour to the icing mix above and then sprinkled it with chocolate strands. Must say it was quite eye catching and I intend to do more with glaze colours the next batch I make.